1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to rotational equipment and, more particularly, to a root spacer for arranging between a rotor disk and a root of a rotor blade.
2. Background Information
A fan assembly for a typical turbine engine includes a plurality of fan blades arranged circumferentially around a rotor disk. Each of the fan blades may include an airfoil connected to a dovetail root. The root is inserted into a respective dovetail slot within the rotor disk to connect the fan blade to the rotor disk. A radial height of the root is typically less than a radial height of the slot. A gap therefore extends between a radial inner surface of the root and a radial inner surface of the slot. Such a gap is typically filled with a root spacer, which is sometimes also referred to as a fan blade spacer.
A typical root spacer is configured to reduce slippage and wear between the root and the rotor disk during engine operation where centrifugal loading on the fan blade is relatively low; e.g., during wind milling. By filling the gap, for example, the root spacer reduces space that would otherwise be available for rotating of the root within the slot. Such a rigid connection between the rotor disk and the fan blade, however, may increase internal stresses on the fan blade where an object such as a bird or a released fan blade collides with the fan blade.
There is a need in the art for an improved rotor spacer.